The album, which is called "Hummingbird in a Box" and came out in June, grew out of a performance Frampton did last year with the Cincinnati Ballet. On Saturday, July 5, Frampton will perform ballet-inspired songs from the new album as well as a selection of his classic hits at Ives Concert Park in Danbury.

Frampton was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn., and his album "Frampton Comes Alive!" is one of the top-selling live records of all time. He's known for such hits as "Do You Feel Like We Do," "Baby, I Love Your Way" and for his prominent use of the talk box, an effects unit that creates a futuristic sound by combining a musician's voice and guitar.

In a recent interview, Frampton talked about his new album, the talk box and the inspiration for some of his biggest hits.

Q: What was the inspiration behind the "Hummingbird in a Box" album?

A: Basically, the Cincinnati Ballet had asked a few years before if they could use four of my pieces of music. I said, "Of course." I was out of town when the performance happened, but they sent me a DVD and it floored me. I never envisioned seeing or hearing my music with ballet and it was wonderful. A couple years later, the creative director of the Cincinnati Ballet asked me if I would perform with the ballet live with my band on stage behind them and do some of my older material. I said, "I would be thrilled to do that, but there's three sections (to the ballet), why don't I write one of the three sections from scratch?"

Q: Do you remember when you first heard the talk box and what attracted you to it?

A: Yes, I heard Stevie Wonder use it on "Music of My Mind." I also heard it on the radio when I was younger. I heard the call letters to a local radio station in England with this funny sound that kind of computerized sound and it was always very interesting to me.

Q: Then what happened?

A: About a year later I was in Abbey Road Studios recording with George Harrison for the album "All Things Must Pass." So I'm sitting next to George; we're playing acoustic. I think we were just about to do "If Not for You." I think he asked Bob Dylan, "I need a pedal steel player; do you know any?" And Bob said, "Use Pete Drake. He's the one I used on `Nashville Skyline.' " So (Drake) walked in, sets up like three feet from me; lovely guy. As he was setting up he said, "You ever hear one of these?" And he set up this little box. Anyway, the next thing of course he starts playing the pedal steel and (the talk box sound) is coming out of his mouth and it's that same sound. It's that Stevie Wonder, radio call letters sound and I said, "There it is. This sound I've been hearing. Where can I get one?"

Q: Can you tell me about the writing process for "Baby I Love Your Way"?

A: I borrowed a cottage on the beach in the Bahamas and I had to go down there and write an entire album in three weeks. For nearly two weeks I was panicking because I couldn't write anything that I liked. Then in the last week I wrote eight songs. The first one that started the ball rolling was actually "Show Me the Way." I woke up and I wrote that in the morning and then wrote the music and then sat down and wrote a verse and a chorus of music so I knew where I was going and then I thought, "Well, I better move on to something else, because I'm feeling good today (laughs). I need an album not a song." I went for a quick swim, a little bit of sun bathing and then sat down and started to write again and "Baby, I Love Your Way" happened on the same day. I remember sitting outside, a little wicker table and chair, and the sun was starting to set and that's when I wrote the first line "Shadows grow so long before my eyes and they're moving across the page. ..."